Widespread use of morning-after pill 'fails to cut teenage pregnancy'

Despite the use of emergency contraception doubling in the past six years, research shows it has failed to cut unplanned pregnancies or make a difference in the levels of sexually-transmitted diseases and abortions.

It casts serious doubts on the Government's policy of making contraception more freely available - including from nurses in schools - to cut soaring rates of teenage pregnancy.

The research by the Cochrane Library Review was based on eight studies of more than 6,000 women in the U.S., India and China.

It found that giving women a supply of emergency contraception, such as the morning-after pill, actually pushed up its use but had no impact on the numbers of pregnancies or abortions.

In 1996, six per cent of women requesting an abortion had tried emergency contraception first, compared to 12 per cent in 2002.

Despite an increase in the use of the morning-after pill, abortion rates rose by 50 per cent during the same period, to reach a record high of 185,000.

The findings follow a report published last September in the British Medical Journal by Professor Anna Glasier, director of the Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust in Edinburgh and a leading expert on contraception.

She admitted there was no conclusive evidence linking readily-available contraception and pregnancy and abortion rates.

The study also goes against the Government's policy of making the "morning-after pill" available in schools and family-planning centres.

Since 2002, it has spent £138million on its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, which includes easier access to contraception through pharmacies and even schools.

Despite this, Britain has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in Europe. Figures show pregnancies among under-18s rose in 2005 to 39,683 - up from 39,593 in 2004 and higher than the 35,400 recorded in 1995.

But a spokesman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said there could be several reasons for the findings.

Many women do not have access to the morning-after pill within 72 hours, especially at weekends or during bank holidays, he added.

The Department of Health said emergency contraception has never been heralded as the answer to rising abortion rates in the UK.

Study reviewer Chelsea Polis said: "Even though advance provision increased use, we don't know if women were using contraception at the times when they were at risk for pregnancy, when it was needed."